There’s more than just profits
New SeaWorld CEO brings a principled philosophy
Joel Manby wrote a book about leading companies through biblical values and agonized on “Undercover Boss” over his employees’ struggles.
Now Manby is bringing his profit-with-principles philosophy to troubled SeaWorld Entertainment.
Manby becomes chief executive officer of SeaWorld after 12 years leading Herschend Family Entertainment, the privately owned operator of theme parks including Dollywood.
SeaWorld has taken a beating from both animal-welfare activists and Wall Street. The company is in the middle of an increasingly nasty public-relations war after the documentary “Blackfish,” which suggested life in captivity could have turned one of its killer whales psychotic. Attendance has declined, hundreds have been laid off, and corporate partnerships have ended.
It will be a big change from Herschend, a family-owned, more low-profile company that does business with Christian principles.
Manby, who says executives must look at more than short-term profits, will face Wall Street pressure to increase a floundering stock price at publicly traded SeaWorld.
“In a way SeaWorld is an opportunity for him to say, ‘All right, I know my values work in a company that’s completely aligned with them … but are my beliefs a bubble, or do they stand up in the real world?’” said Kevin Jenkins, a close friend from Harvard Business School.
SeaWorld said Manby would not do interviews before starting the job, in which he will earn a $1 million salary along with a bonus and stock op-
Joel Manby’s book, “Love Works,” advises executives to lead with biblical principles including patience, unselfishness and truth.
tions.
Herschend executives also declined to be interviewed.
At Herschend, Manby oversaw acquisitions including the 2013 purchase of the Harlem Globetrotters. He expanded the company from six to 26 properties while more than doubling net cash flow.
Under Manby’s watch, Dollywood opened the country’s first “wing” roller coaster, with cars extending out from the sides of a track. Soon the Tennessee theme park will open the 307-room DreamMore Resort.
Manby is also “known for just the whole idea of customer and employee relations,” said Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com.
Herschend offers employee perks such as subsidized lunches and on-site health care centers. A 2010 stint on the “Undercover Boss” reality show inspired Manby to expand its employee-assistance program, including providing workers with money to help with child care. The company also started an employeescholarship fund.
“We take care of our own here,” Manby told Christian Broadcasting Network in 2012. “Frankly, we don’t need the government to help us take care of our employees. I think I’d rather do it ourselves.”
Along with standard job performance, Herschend rates employees during reviews on kindness, Manby says in his 2012 book “Love Works.” In it, he advises executives to lead with biblical principles including patience, unselfishness and truth.
In both his book and “Undercover Boss,” Manby, 55, opens up about his own challenges in life.
He grew up in Battle Creek, Mich., and had what he describes as “a very humble upbringing.” Manby said he’s driven today because he was inspired by how hard his father worked running a struggling farm-machinery dealership.
Manby became valedictorian of his class at Albion (Mich.) College and earned a Harvard MBA. A pianist, golfer and tennis player, “he’s one of those guys that can kind of do anything,” longtime friend Dougal Cameron, who owns a property-management company, said.
But the ambition that propelled him to CEO of Saab Automobile USA in his mid-30s also took a toll on his family life. He spent most days traveling, and “the kids don’t really know you,” his wife, Marki, told him at one point. The couple have four daughters, including one adopted from China.
Manby resigned from Saab to take a job he thought would provide work-life balance: heading auto-broker startup Greenlight.com. The dot-com bubble burst, Greenlight’s cash reserve quickly dwindled, and rival CarsDirect bought the company.
At one point, “I was working so hard and was so disconnected from my family, I literally had a breakdown or just a meltdown,” he told “Undercover Boss.” “I actually started drinking too much.”
Manby says his life changed for the better once he took over at Herschend. In his book, Manby wrote he “wanted to work some- where that rejected the false dichotomy between profit and people or profit and principles.”
All the talk about values is more than just show, theme-park executives say.
“He’s one of the nicest guys in the industry,” said Chris Gray, a partner in Orlando’s Skyline Attractions, which builds rides and games.
That has not come at the expense of profits. While at the helm of Herschend, Manby wrote that he grew operating profit more than 50 percent and earned a 14 percent annual return.
Manby told DailyFinance in 2012 “there’s no doubt that I’d rather work for a privately owned company.”
So what has changed his mind?
At SeaWorld, “there was a challenge there,” said Cameron, who has monthly hour-long phone calls with Manby and two other friends to examine issues in their lives through the lens of their faith. “There was a culture there he felt like he could impact.”
Manby felt he already made a big contribution at Herschend, Cameron said.
Despite the openness and emphasis on values, friends said Manby isn’t afraid to make tough decisions.
“He is putting his reputation and kind of his legacy as a leader, in a way, on the line. So you can definitely expect that he’s going to make some serious changes. And that will be probably in every way — in direction, in some people,” said Jenkins, chief executive officer of Christian relief organization World Vision International.
“He’s got to change the direction. What’s been going on so far hasn’t been working so well.”